


Lost Along the Way

by Jennie0726



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Djinni & Genies, Emotionally Hurt Dean Winchester, F/M, Hurt Dean Winchester, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Suggestive Themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:28:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24651598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jennie0726/pseuds/Jennie0726
Summary: Dean heads on a hunt with Jody with a surprise twist.
Relationships: Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester, Jo Harvelle/Dean Winchester
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	Lost Along the Way

**Author's Note:**

> At 49 years old, this is my first fan fic and I blame my daughter who drew me into this world. Comments are welcome but please be nice.

Dean, Sam, and Eileen are sitting around the table in the bunker kitchen. Dean is making intense sounds of pleasure as he is devouring a fully dressed bacon double cheeseburger. Sam looks on in amused disgust as he asks Dean, “Do you want us to leave the room so you can enjoy that coronary burger in private?” Dean looks at Sam and Eileen’s plates which contain grilled chicken salads and asks, “ Dude… is there a reason behind you two eating like a couple of rabbits?” as he wiggles his eyebrows suggestively and smiles showing a mouthful of partially chewed food. The amusement flees Sam’s face as he is about to punch Dean in the shoulder when Dean’s phone rings. 

“Hey Jody! What’s up?” Dean asks as he turns on the speakerphone. “Sam and Eileen are here too.” 

_“Hey guys! I’ve got a bit of a vamp problem and Claire is off on her own hunt. Do you think one of you boys could come give me a hand?” ___

“Sure thing, Jody,” says Dean. “I’ll head that way and leave these two here to do… whatever.” Dean casts Sam a side-eye smirk while Sam gives him an exasperated glare. Eileen just blushes and rolls her eyes while thinking _“Will these boys ever grow up?”_

__\---------------------_ _

__“C’mon Baby, it’s just you and me this time,” Dean says as he shoves in a cassette and cranks up the volume as Back in Black blasts through the speakers. Tires squeal as Dean pulls out and heads toward Sioux Falls. After a few hours on the road, Dean realizes that he hasn’t really gotten much sleep lately and it’s a lot harder to stay awake when he doesn’t have Sammy with him to talk to. He pulls off at gas station to get a cup of coffee and a can of Red Bull. As he walks to the register he decides to stroll by the magazine section and see what kind of selection they have of skin magazines. Disappointed to see that they don’t have anything that he doesn’t already have, Dean heads on to the register. While he’s checking out he asks the clerk where the bathroom is. The clerk hands him a key attached to a small baton and tells him that it’s outside around the corner of the building. As Dean heads toward the john he notices that that side of the building is cast in deep shadow._ _

\---------------------

“Jo, duck!” Dean yells as he dodges the vamp’s teeth that are aiming for his jugular. _“How did I let her talk me into taking her on a hunt with just the two of us. I’m going to get us both killed if I can’t keep my concentration,” _Dean finds himself thinking.__

“I’ve got this! You worry about yourself!” Jo yells back as she ducks while spinning around swinging her machete in an arc intended to cut off the vamp’s head. She winces as her aim is off and she just scalps the vamp. She quickly corrects her mistake and cuts off the vamp’s head while thinking, _“Dang it, if Dean saw that rookie mistake he’ll never let me tag along again!” __Meanwhile Dean has had his blade knocked out of his hand and has one arm pinned to the floor as the vamp he was fighting kneels over him. “Son of a--,” Dean manages to get out before the vamp’s hand clamps around his throat cutting off his air. While the vamp is distracted, Jo is able to come up behind him and cut off his head._ __

____“Well, that didn’t go as easily as I envisioned,” commented Jo._ _ _ _

__

__

__“Yeah, let’s not tell your mom about how that almost turned out. I’d like to keep MY head,” replied Dean._ _

__Sticky, sweaty, and bloody, they gather their weapons and head back to the Roadhouse. As they enter and pass the bar, Ash gives them the stink-eye and wrinkles his nose. “Dude, you guys reek. You need showers.”_ _

__Jo heads off to shower while Ellen gives Dean the third degree about how the hunt went and if it went as easily as he said it would. After all, he took her daughter into a dangerous situation against her will. After answering all of Ellen’s questions, even if he didn’t tell her the whole truth, Dean heads off for his own nice, hot, steamy shower. Afterwards, when he goes to his room, he finds Jo waiting in their bed scantily clad and with a “come hither” look on her face. “Ready for some post-hunt fun?” she asks him seductively. Dean’s green eyes glint as he licks his lips. “Oh yeah” he answers in a sexy growl._ _

\----------------------

__Sam and Eileen are sitting in the bunker library casting each other shy glances as they’re working on finding a case when Sam’s phone rings. “Hey Jody, how is the hunt going?”_ _

_“Not great, Sam. I thought Dean was coming to help?”_

__“He never showed up? He left here a couple of days ago!”_ _

_“I’d help you hunt for him, but I’ve kinda got my hands full at the moment. Let me know when you find out what’s going on.”_

______“Yeah, you focus on your hunt and I’ll let you know when we find Dean.”_ _ _ _ _ _

_\-------------------_

__

__

__“Hey Sammy-boy! How’s school going?”_ _

_“It’s Sam, Dean, not Sammy. And school… well, it’s different. I’m working hard to get caught back up.”_

______“Well, it can’t be easy trying to pick up where you left off when you left to help me find Dad. I’m just glad you made it back in time to save Jess. Nice chick by the way.”_ _ ___ _

_____ _

__

__

_“Yeah. Thanks Dean for being there to help me out with that. I can’t imagine life without her. I love her, Dean. That’s why I’m not going back to the hunter life.”_

__“So when’s the wedding? You know I need some notice so we can hand off any cases to other hunters.”_ _

_“I’m sure it won’t be too long. I want to get a ring on her finger and do this up right. I’ll let you know as soon as we set a date.”_

__

__

_________“Well, you know all the Roadhouse gang will be there. See ya soon little brother.”_ ________

____\-----------------_ __ _

____

____

__“Sam, what’s going on?” Eileen signed._ _

“Dean never made it to Jody’s,” Sam answered as he tried calling Dean’s phone – _“This is Dean’s other, other cell. Leave a message.” ___  
  


“Dang it, Dean! Eileen, pass that laptop over here. I’m going to pull up the location of Dean’s phone.” Eileen passes the laptop and places her hand gently on Sam’s shoulder as she thinks _“This is definitely not good. What has he gotten himself into?”_

____“Vermillion, South Dakota”, Sam tells Eileen as he looks to see exactly where the town is located. “That’s not too far from Sioux Falls.”_ _ _ _

__

__

__“Let’s go,” says Eileen. “He may need our help.”_ _

\-----------------

_“You’ve reached Sam Winchester. I’m probably in class right now so leave a message.”_

_______“Sam, Jo is dead. A werewolf hunt went sideways and her heart was ripped out. She meant more to me than I realized, Sam. I don’t know how to recover from this one. I’m tired, Sammy. I don’t think I’m going to make it to your wedding little brother. You be happy with Jess. Live a long, happy, normal life. Love ya kid.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _

__

__

\-----------------

__“The clerk at the gas station said she saw Dean a few nights ago,” Eileen tells Sam, worry shining clearly in her eyes._ _

__“There are street cameras. I’m going to try to hack in and see if we can see where he went from here,” Sam replies with determination tinged by fear._ _

__“The last camera that picked up the Impala shows it headed toward a dilapidated warehouse district. All I know to do is to drive around and see if we spot the car. Eileen, it didn’t look like Dean was the one driving,” Sam says in a hushed voice._ _

\----------------

__Dean stands with his hands in his pockets and tears silently streaming down his face as he watches the funeral pyre blaze. He never thought he could fall so hard and so fast… or that his heart could break so completely for someone who wasn’t Sammy. Ellen had furiously told him before the funeral that he had to find someplace else to stay. She just couldn’t handle seeing him right now, knowing that it was him that Jo followed into battle. Maybe, someday, when the grief was so fresh and overwhelming, she would be able to see him again. Dean didn’t blame her. He blames himself for Jo’s death and takes on that guilt just as he always has when someone gets hurt or dies on his watch. His guilt stems from the fact that he thought he could actually have a relationship and experience love because Jo was a hunter too. He never really expected to lose her. Heck, if anyone was going to die it would be him with his recklessness. Now, he just doesn’t see the point in it anymore._ _

\----------------

__Sam and Eileen spot the Impala behind a warehouse with broken windows and a partially missing roof. It looks abandoned except for the faint glow of light shining through one of the windows. They park far enough away that their engine won’t be heard and start stealthily making their way toward the building._ _

\----------------

Dean is laying on the bed in a seedy motel. He has already downed two bottles of vodka. “I wonder how much it takes to get alcohol poisoning,” flits through his mind as he lays there listening to “Carry On Wayward Son”. As his eyes start to close in a drunken stupor, his door and window explodes into the room as his room is flooded with the very vampires he was there to hunt. It doesn’t seem to take long for the monsters in a town to realize a Winchester is there. With his senses dulled and his heart not in the fight, it’s not long before he’s overwhelmed. His last thought as his throat is being ripped out is _“Too bad I won’t be sharing a heaven with Jo. Hell is my destination.”_

______________  
\----------------  


____

____

____

____

__Sam and Eileen have made their way into the warehouse. They’ve spotted Dean hanging with his arms above his head and tubes running from his body. His skin is pasty looking with a grayish tint. Eileen had spotted the djinn checking on Dean just a few minutes before. They knew they didn’t have much time. Suddenly Dean’s eyes open as he jerks awake. Even with as weak as he is he starts to struggle trying to free himself. Sam rushes to Dean to cut the ropes that he’s hanging by while Eileen keeps watch for the djinn._ _

__“Sam!!” Eileen yells as the djinn appears behind them. As Sam and Eileen battle the djinn, Dean rips all the tubes out. He’s so weak he can barely stand and none of them have a silver knife dipped in lamb’s blood. The best they can do is to knock the djinn out so they can escape. Eileen tosses Sam a pipe that she found and he smashes the djinn over the head. As the djinn slumps to the floor unconscious they rush to help Dean to the Impala and leave tread on the road as they peel out in their rush._ _

\-----------------

__Back at the bunker, Sam calls Jody to let her know that they found Dean and that they had rescued him from a djinn. While he’s talking with Jody, Eileen is in the kitchen frying bacon, trying to find something that Dean would eat. Since they returned home two days ago he has refused everything, including his beloved pie. He hasn’t left his room or showered. It’s almost like his mind hasn’t left the illusion._ _

__Sam heads to Dean’s room with the plateful of bacon hoping to entice him with it. As he enters, he finds Dean laying on his side just staring into space with a single tear trailing down his temple._ _

__“Dean, do you want to talk about it?” Sam asks hesitantly._ _

__“No. Go away Sammy,” Dean says in a voice that echoes with emptiness._ _

__“What happened in the djinn’s illusion that has affected you so much?” Sam asks as he tries to understand what is going on with his big brother who has been his rock as long as he can remember. He doesn’t like seeing him like this and wants to help._ _

__“I said go away, Sam!” Dean shouts in irritation as he wipes his face._ _

__“But Dean…” Sam persists._ _

__“Just leave it alone, Sammy!!” Dean yells as he knocks the tray out of Sam’s hands._ _

__“Dean, you’ve always been there for me and now I just want to return the favor! Please! Let me help!” Sam begs._ _

__“There is nothing you can do to help. There’s no fixing this,” Dean says brokenly._ _

__“Please, Dean,” Sam whispers as tears well in his eyes._ _

__“Look Sam, in the illusion we saved Jess and you went back to college. You had a normal life and was planning on getting married. I had a life with Jo. I found love with a hunter and it was the best of both worlds. I never thought I would feel that kind of love – and she died – and it was my fault!” Dean tried to explain through the tightness in his throat from suppressed tears._ _

__In shock and with his own heart breaking, Sam replied, “Dean, I’m sure it wasn’t your fault, but… Jo? Why her?”_ _

__“I never had a chance to explore the attraction that was there from the first time we met. The timing never seemed right. I realized that I might have missed something really special when it was too late. Man, I miss her,” Dean choked out._ _

__All Sam could do was sit on the edge of Dean’s bed with his hand on his shoulder as they both had thoughts of “What if…?”_ _

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos appreciated!


End file.
